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Romano Scores Seven as No. 3 Notre Dame Handles No. 19 NYU 11-3 in National Collegiate Club Championship Opening Round
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Christina Romano (Jr., River Forest, Ill.) buried seven goals to earn Player of the Game honors as No. 3-ranked the University of Notre Dame built a 5-0 lead and never looked back in taking an 11-3 victory over No. 19 New York University in the opening round of the 2010 Women's National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Arizona.
The Fighting Irish, who are coming off a championship in the Midwest Division, never trailed in the contest and built an 11-1 lead through the conclusion of the third period before NYU closed the gap to eight prior to the final horn.
It took Notre Dame 2:59 to light up the scoreboard as Romano split the Violets' defense for a marker at the 4:01 mark. Meghan Pearl (Sr., Cary, Ill.) struck next with a man-up tally at 3:16 before Romano netted even-strengh markers at 2:52 and 1:37 to sandwich a five-meter penalty shot score at 2:25 to build the Irish's advantage to 4-0. However, Notre Dame poured on one more tally prior to the end of the period as Pearl struck again on another man-up chance to make it 5-0 through seven minutes of play.
New York broke-up the shutout bid with 5:25 left in the second period as Oveida Norris (Gr., Longwood, Fla.) uncorked a blast past Notre Dame netminder Betsy O'Neill (Sr., Danville, Calif.) to pull the Violets to within 5-1. However, the Notre Dame defense stymied NYU for the next 15:25 until the four minute mark of the fourth period, while the offense exploded for six more scores to put the game out of reach.
Pearl tacked on the Irish's sole score of the second period with another shot which found the back of the cage on an exclusion chance at the 4:52 mark of the period as the teams returned to their benches with Notre Dame leading 6-1.
The five-goal deficit did not last for long in the third period as Romano ripped home shots at 5:42 and 5:17 to make it 8-1, Eilleen Flanagan (Jr., Fountain Valley, Calif.) rifled a shot through the Violets at 3:56 and Romano added her sixth and seventh blasts at 3:20 and 1:23 to make it an 11-1 game through 21 minutes of play.
NYU finished off the scoring with a successful five-meter penalty shot and a natural goal by Katelyn Schlactus (Gr., Newberg, Ore.) at 4:00 and 1:59, respectively.
In cage, O'Neill made 15 saves in 21 minutes of work to earn the win for Notre Dame, while Kelly Gibson (So., Naperville, Ill.) closed out the game with one save and two goals allowed in the fourth period. For NYU, Lauren Reilly (Jr., Huntington Beach, Calif.) swatted down 11 shots for the Violets.
Notre Dame advances to a second round match-up versus the winner of a first-round game between No. 4 University of Michigan and No. 9 Grand Valley State University at 11:20 a.m. on Saturday, April 24. NYU will face the loser of the Michigan-GVSU game this evening at 8:40 p.m.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -- | Final | |
| No. 19 New York University | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -- | 3 |
| No. 3 University of Notre Dame | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | -- | 11 |
Notre Dame Goals: Christina Romano (7); Meghan Pearl (3); Eilleen Flanagan
NYU Goals: Katelyn Schlactus (2); Oveida Norris
Saves: Notre Dame - Betsy O'Neill (15, 21 minutes), Kelly Gibson (1, 7 minutes) ; NYU - Lauren Reilly (11)
Exclusions: Notre Dame - 3 ; NYU - 6
Advantage Opportunities: Notre Dame - 3-for-6 ; NYU - 1-for-3
Sprints: Notre Dame - 4-for-4 ; NYU - 0-for-4
